Company giving ambassadors customer loyalty points in lieu of monetary commission

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2023 (985 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg-based wellness product company has, at the last minute, shifted to giving its ambassadors customer loyalty points in lieu of monetary commission.

Tiber River owners Michelle Lalonde and Adriana DeLuca told ambassadors — contractors who sell the company’s wares — that instead of getting January commissions, they’d receive Tiber River loyalty points to cover the money they’re owed, plus a 20 per cent “premium” to the points they’re paid.

The points can be used to buy Tiber River products.

Both owners broke the news via Facebook video Wednesday afternoon. Later, they sent an email.

“If you think that I want to support Tiber River products at this point with a gift card… That’s not going to pay my power bill,” said Joyce Boone, an ambassador from New Brunswick.

Last month, the business announced it would cut its ambassador program.

Ambassadors had the month of January to sell products. Beginning Feb. 1, sales shifted online and to the business’s Kenaston Boulevard store.

For years, contractors have sold Tiber River soaps and lip balms, receiving 30 per cent commission.

As of New Year’s Day, Tiber River had 800 ambassadors, Lalonde and DeLuca said in January.

On Wednesday, they didn’t answer Free Press questions including how much is owed to ambassadors and how many people are impacted.

Instead, in a statement, they highlighted how the pandemic “has changed everyone’s lives,” including how people shop and how much shipping costs.

“We shared with Ambassadors that the business model as we have known it is no longer viable,” their statement reads.

Ambassadors sold goods in January with the expectation of monetary compensation.

Boone said she’s now out $170.

“It’s only… $170. I know it’s not a lot of money, but it is a lot of money to me,” she said. “That $170 pays my power bill and my groceries.”

Two ambassadors who connected with the Free Press said they’re owed upwards of $1,000, with one waiting on several thousand dollars.

Another said the money she earned was slated to cover her property taxes.

“We live in a world right now where things are going up and up — they’re not getting cheaper,” said the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous until she spoke to a lawyer.

Boone is among the ambassadors eyeing a class action lawsuit.

“Is it legal? I suppose it depends upon the contract that exists between the associates and the company,” said Manitoba lawyer Jason Zushman.

Zushman specializes in class action lawsuits.

“(This compensation switch is) something that might be steeped within the contract,” he said, adding the paperwork needs inspection.

A “significant delay” in restructuring and recapitalizing the business has led to the shift from monetary payment to loyalty points, according to a Tiber River email sent to ambassadors. The Free Press has obtained both Tiber River’s email and video.

“We are not able to release your commission payment into your Hyperwallet today,” the Wednesday email reads.

Hyperwallet is a digital platform the company uses to transfer payment.

Instead, loyalty points will be uploaded by 4 p.m. Thursday, the email continues.

“We are very sorry for how this is affecting the people who helped us build Tiber River,” Lalonde and DeLuca wrote in a statement. “It breaks our hearts and we wish it could all be different.”

Tiber River’s sales dropped 30 per cent since the pandemic’s inception, the co-owners told the Free Press in January.

Last October, the company had announced its expansion to Walmart Marketplace. It was named one of Canada’s 500 fastest growing companies in 2016; last year, it received the Canadian Manufacturing and Exporters Emerging Award.

The business underwent scandal in 2021 after a social media account called Not My Tiber surfaced. The page highlighted employee allegations of a hostile working environment.

At the time, Tiber River said it would consult a human resources firm.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.co